


Playing Hero

by trinarydawn



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (2016), Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 22:49:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11793114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinarydawn/pseuds/trinarydawn
Summary: A look into some of the missions the glaives get sent to, usually from the eyes of Nyx Ulric.





	Playing Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A squad of glaives has been sent to the mountains around Niflheim, with the mission of capturing a facility, retrieving as much information as possible, and destroying it. Things, however, are not going as planned.

That I didn’t stand the concept of authority wasn’t a secret. That included, to an extent, Drautos and the royal family. I was loyal to them, of course, but it was out of _gratitude_ , not because of the authority they wielded. This dislike extended, of course, to all forces of order in Insomnia. And a bunch of other glaives. That I had a certain tendency to ignore orders and, in words of my superiors, “play hero” wasn’t a secret either. Neither was it a secret the fact that all these things were keeping me from a promotion. Which was fine by me, for the most part, considering there wasn’t a hierarchy, strictly speaking.

There were times, however, when I would have been grateful for some more authority. Times when the captain was out of reach, gods know where; times when our dead were almost as many as our living; times when there was no chain of command in the field. Times like these. Times in which the designated squad leader had been an incompetent bastard who shot us directly into a trap, and he himself had been the first casualty. Times in which if I had the authority, I’d call for retreat; because, no matter how important, no imperial base lost in the mountains was worth ten glaives. “And those to come”, I heard myself thinking among the thunder of the battle. As if my own thoughts carried an omen, I saw the axe of a magitek start its descent towards a glaive, too focused on his other three enemies. It took me a split second to throw a kukri to the machine, and another to materialize there, stabbing another trooper with a swift kneeling motion. I didn’t even wait for a “thank you” before warping to the next foe and unleashing lightning on three more. 

Battles were… chaos. They were messy, unpredictable for the most part, unorganized. All semblance of formation disappeared once the actual fight started. But they were worth it. Not for Insomnia, not for Lucis: for my comrades. Each glaive that survived to fight another day was a victory. That and the civilian lives behind the Wall were my main source of will, what kept me steady through all the deaths and violence. And so I ducked, avoiding MT fire, and kept the rain of steel, fire and lightning going. 

A few moments later, the room stilled. For the best part of a minute, the silence was only broken by the sound of MT joints, shaken by the last spasms before deactivation. And then, another half minute of absolute silence. No one looked at the dead glaive on the far side of the room. 

We couldn’t stay here. I knew that, we all knew that. But the orders were to push forward and take the facility. So I made a decision. 

“We are falling back. We can’t keep going like this”, I stated, matter-of-factly. “I am not calling retreat”, I interrupted as soon as I saw another glaive open his mouth in protest. “All I’m saying is we need to regroup. Rest. Then we scout this place, and organize the attack. What we’re doing here, now? It’s not working. Two, maybe three, rooms more and we will all be dead. There ought to be caves in the mountain, somewhere to spend the night. The blueprints we got back home from the captain are outdated, the building is completely different. We can’t make it work like this.” 

I saw Libertus take a step forward and raise his hand. “I’m with Nyx. We can’t keep on like this, I’m spent.” A few of the other glaives nodded too.

Furia spoke behind me, and I swore I could hear his scowl. “We should keep going. Those are the orders. What, you think you are Luche now? Who cares how many of us die? We’ve got orders.”

I tried to bite my tongue as I turned to look at Tredd. I couldn’t. “Luche isn’t here, Furia. Don’t let your name get to your head, eh? I’m going in five minutes, tops. Pelna, could you try to get the facilities map from one of the computers here? We’ll need it later.” The man nodded, and I saw him approach the machines. 

I told Libertus to go block one of the three doors the room had, while I did the same with another one. It wasn’t a big thing, just breaking the control panels so the door wouldn’t open. The MTs would break through in a moment. But it would, I hoped, give us enough time to go back from where we came. It also forced Tredd to come with us. He could be a pain, but I wasn’t going to leave him behind.

Pelna’s voice took me out of my train of thought. “Hey, I’ve got the map, and a couple of extras. We should leave now if we are really going to do it.” 

I nodded, and turned to Furia. “You open the march. Then groups of two: Libertus and Pelna; Augus and Orga, Cup and Mag, Aquila and Corvus. I get the rear. Move.” 

Tredd grunted, though it was almost a growl. He wanted everyone to know he wasn’t happy with this. “Captain Drautos will hear about this”, he said when passing past me. I shrugged, not giving it much importance. I didn't expect to keep it hidden from him. And, after all, it wasn’t a secret that I had a certain tendency to ignore orders.

Libertus came next, with Pelna at his side. “Don’t overdo it, hero. We still need you back home”. He chuckled as he spoke. He always did, it was how he was. I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh before replying. “Don’t worry, Libertus. You still owe me a bunch, and I have every intention of getting my due.” I could see his head shake as he sped off. 

Then came emerald eyed Augus and his partner, violet haired Orga. Those two were in a conversation of their own, probably reassuring each other. It was weird sometimes, having a couple in the glaives, but if anything, it only served them as fuel to fight harder. Separately they were average, but their battle sync was incredible. 

Lastly Aquila, the only surviving woman of the group and one of the few female glaives not serving as mages under Crowe, accompanied by golden-haired Corvus, the youngest of us all. Corvus was a brilliant fighter on his own right, but Aquila had taken a big-sister stance towards the boy. He, in turn, followed her as a duckling his mother. Recently, they had been talking about dyeing Corvus’ hair the same way Aquila did, green and white. 

My eyes darted to the corpse of Lain before going after my comrades. They were good people, all of them. The fallen deserved a proper burial. They wouldn’t get one, but they deserved it. Their deaths couldn’t be in vain. We’d complete our mission. But for now, we ran. We ran into the mountains, hiding from the eyes of Niflheim, together. Almost like a small family.


End file.
